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When you need new insurance do you cancel your current coverage before finding a new carrier? Of course not. You research, speak to agents and shop for the coverage that makes sense for you, all while still covered under your current carrier.

That’s normal.

Repeal and replace is not.

To build on the progress we’ve made is the goal. Refuse to dismantle it. Health insurance is a basic human right. Demand access. Demand equality.

There is a reason that the administration is pushing for repeal and replace. It relates to the amount of votes needed to accomplish different actions in legislation. Don’t be fooled by party politics. We deserve legislatures that speak for the people and act for the benefit of the people of US.

Our rights, the rights of “we” the people, deserve to be afforded not by gender, religion, love or belief but because we are share the commonalities of a human existence upon this earth. Today, we stand to defend that right as gender neutral and call upon our fellow citizens to move forward with the Equal Rights Amendment, to ensure that protection.

“Women, and men, in America are faced with a Congress and state legislators who are focused like a laser on attacking women’s health. We have a new Supreme Court Justice and, as such, many questions about issues of gender equality hanging in the balance. The President’s ongoing executive actions threatening to rollback back all of our hard-won rights, including his reinstatement and expansion of the Global Gag Rule on the day after the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, make ratification of the ERA more important than ever,” Rep. Speier said.

“When asked, 96 percent of Americans think that women and men should have equal rights, and 88 percent believe that our Constitution should affirm those rights, while 72 percent of Americans mistakenly believe the Constitution already includes such a guarantee,” Rep. Speier said. “Given the current political climate, and the overwhelming support, it’s clear that the ERA is still a necessity. As the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia explained in a Supreme Court opinion, ‘Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t.’”

In 1923, on the 75th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, Alice Paul first announced the ERA. This amendment was introduced in every session of Congress from 1923, until it passed in 1972. Thirty-five states ratified the ERA before the deadline, falling just three states short of the number needed for passage. That is why Congresswoman Speier’s joint resolution follows the “three-state” approach to ratification of the ERA, which would strike the expired deadline and restart the “ratification clock” so that the amendment would become part of the Constitution after the needed three states are secured. Efforts to secure those states are already underway in Illinois, Nevada, and Virginia. Once ratified, the ERA would specify in an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”

Find out whether your member of Congress has co-sponsored the bill to remove the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Daily Call To Action: January 30th, 2017

The Call

Urge the Senate to postpone any vote on Jeff Sessions for Attorney General until he can be questioned about the Administration’s Muslim Exclusion order and reorganization of the National Security Council (NSC) to include Steve Bannon. Over the weekend, the administration took two unusual and potentially unlawful acts. First, the President signed an order barring Muslims from 7 different countries from entering the United States. Second, and equally frightening, the White House unilaterally (and potentially unlawfully) reorganized the NSC. This reorganization promotes White House adviser and white nationalist hero Steve Bannon to a permanent seat while demoting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence to “optional” participants. These developments have been criticized by members of both parties. Senator John McCain notably cited the White House’s reorganization of the NSC as “radical.”

As Attorney General, Sessions would play a key role in how our country implements these executive orders and would also occupy a seat on the NSC. He also reportedly had a significant role in drafting the Muslim exclusion. It would be an abdication of Congress’ responsibility to provide adequate oversight to executive branch appointments if it does not question Sessions about both his role in crafting and implementing these orders as well as the Administration’s radical departure from the practice of excluding political advisers from NSC seats.

Your Action

Call your 2 Senators and urge them to do everything in their power to hold up Jeff Sessions’ confirmation until he is made to answer questions about his role in crafting the Muslim Exclusion, as well as his plans for implementation of these clear abuses of executive power and the radical departure from the practice of excluding political advisers from NSC seats.

As pages disappear from white house . gov and new ones replace those that spoke of rights and liberty, we must remember our responsibility as citizens of this great nation.

These are our representatives, our legislatures, our government. Demand more from them.

Demand fact checking and sourcing. Stand up for truth and honest assessment, not just from the media, but from the government and the government representatives. We deserve and demand knowledge and information. We deserve transparency.

Hold Trump and his administration accountable to a fair and transparent presidency. We have rights to#peaceful#protest. We deserve protection and real facts. Not alternative facts. Demand more from whitehouse . gov

According to one of the newest pages on white house . gov related to law enforcement: “President Trump is committed to building a border wall to stop illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence, and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities. He is dedicated to enforcing our border laws, ending sanctuary cities, and stemming the tide of lawlessness associated with illegal immigration.”

Issues:

Illegal immigration has stabilized in recent years. The total unauthorized immigrants from Mexico have decreased since 2009. Recent estimates cite overstayed visas as a main source of unauthorized immigrants. Also interesting to note 2/3 of the unauthorized adults have been here for a decade or longer. These aren’t drugs, gangs, violence – these are people who came here for a better life and made the US home.

It’s also important to remind people that illegal migration from our southern border has changed significantly. Last year there were almost 60,000 unaccompanied children fleeing poverty and violence. Not to mention the families that sought refuge here according to the Border Security report issues by DHS (12/16 ).

And on the topic of drugs as it relates to a reason to build a wall – the number of apprehendees caught by border patrol is down significantly from prior years (although there was an uptick from 2015-2016 (which we can’t rule out Trump had something to do with)) so the drugs aren’t only coming in that way. Technology advances make it much easier to transport illegal drugs via drone without the need for a human mule.

I urge you to remain steadfast in your pledge to support this great nation and to take your responsibility as a citizen to heart. Stay informed and urge your colleagues, friends and neighbors to do the same.

*We are actively bringing together a national coalition of organizations, grassroots activists and concerned citizens to develop and execute a strategy that supports our vote and our voice. Join us.

As I sit here and contemplate the fate of our great nation I am overcome with pride and fear, anger and hope. My eyes tear as I finally acknowledge that our great nation’s fate has been decided by the tyranny of the few over the will of the many. Less than 100,000 Americans from three states have swung the election in a direction that I’d never thought possible.

What ensued has been equally miraculous and inspiring, as well as hateful and divisive.

Today, I give you the opportunity to stand for your beliefs. To see the pain and fear that underlies the hate and rage. To see this great nation in a new light.

Be wary and inquisitive. Ask questions. Hold your legislatures to their duty to represent you, the people. It’s time that we demand as citizens that our rights NOT BE SUBJUGATED – not to shareholders, not to cells, not to corporations and not to partisan politics. We the people, need to be the priority in all arguments. This is about our fundamental rights.

We as a country must stand for justice and responsibility. In areas where we have fallen short, we must stand for change and band together in solidarity. We deserve better. It’s our responsibility to heal the divide and build a stronger union.

We will move mountains to support all that is threatened in this upcoming presidential term.